The following relates to the nuclear reactor arts, electrical power generation arts, nuclear reactor control arts, nuclear electrical power generation control arts, thermal management arts, and related arts.
Nuclear reactors employ a reactor core comprising a mass of fissile material, such as a material containing uranium oxide (UO2) that is enriched in the fissile 235U isotope. A primary coolant, such as light water or heavy water flows through the reactor core to extract heat for use in heating water or another secondary coolant to generate steam, or for some other useful purpose. For electrical power generation, the steam is used to drive a generator turbine. In thermal nuclear reactors, the water also serves as a neutron moderator that thermalizes neutrons, which enhances reactivity of the fissile material. Various reactivity control mechanisms, such as mechanically operated control rods, chemical treatment of the primary coolant with a soluble neutron poison, or so forth are employed to regulate the reactivity and resultant heat generation.
In a pressurized water reactor (PWR), the light water (or other primary coolant) is maintained in a subcooled state in a sealed pressure vessel that also contains the reactor core. In the PWR, both pressure and temperature of the primary coolant are controlled. An external pressurizer may be used for pressure control; however, an external pressurizer entails an additional large-diameter pressure vessel penetration to connect the external pressurizer with the pressure vessel. Various internal pressurizer configurations are also known.
Disclosed herein are improvements that provide various benefits that will become apparent to the skilled artisan upon reading the following.